Texas Southern University - Tiger Pride Yearbook (Houston, TX)

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Al the dedicalion. President Spearman. Regent Sterling and Mrs. Sterling watch the unveiling of the building ' s new name. The Ernest S. Sterling Student Center TEXAS SOUTHERN UNIVERSITY The Ernest S. Sterling Student Center is located in the heart of Texas Southern University campus on Wheeler Avenue across from Hannah Hall Auditorium and houses the bookstore, post office, a 1 ,000-seat cafeteria, offices for student publications and organizations and other recreational facilities. The Sterling Center rents available space to the University and community for various activities throughout the year e.g., banquets, plays and meetings. The Center was started in October 1973 and completed in December 1975 at a cost of approximately $4 million. The building contains almost I 15.000 square feet and features an exterior of precast concrete panels.

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REGENT ERNEST S. STERLING Ernest S. Sterling. Know as the Goodwill Ambassador from the East, started out some time back to tell as many young adults as he could something for their own good. Now, some 34 years later. Sterling has begun to reap some benefits from that philosophy and effort. In November 1980, the Texas Sourthern University Board of Regents unani- mously voted to name the TSU Stu- dent Life Center the Ernest S. Ster- ling Student Center, much to the surprise of Sterling. Sterling, TSU Board of Regents chairman, called the honor one of the greatest things thai has ever hap- pened in my life. It was such a sur- prise. I fell real good about it. Students and higher education are my life, I ' ve always possessed a lit- tle leadership (ability). I ' ve just want- ed to tell somebody something for their own good. Sometimes he appre- ciates it and sometimes he doesn ' t. I ' m just happy, though, around stu- dents. Sterling ' s academic vitae is impres- sive both as a higher education ad- ministrator and volunteer servant. Sterling, an Elgin native, began his professional academic career at Prai- rie View where he provided service for ten years. He then joined the Texas College staff where he re- mained I 5 years. Sterli ng left the academic arena professionally, but has nurtured his love for higher education and stu- dents by his service on the TSU Board of Regents for the past nine years, two of those years, as chair- man. The academician spends his profes- sional time now as chairman of the Board of Directors of National Securi- ty Bank in Tyler, one of only two black-owned banks in Texas. The oldest of 15 children (and his mother is alive and well at 85), Ster- ling received his undergraduate de- gree in Home Economics from Texas College. ' When I first started out (in the field), I was one of four black men in Texas in Home Economics, the 67- year-old Regent said. I had originally been placed in agriculture. But having been born and reared on a farm, that was the farthest thing from my mind. A friend, Mrs. EC. May. who was head of the Home Economics Department then, encour- aged me to major in Home Econom- ics. She told me it was a wide open field After that, the story is history. Sterling ' s complete list of commu- nity and civic involvement is too nu- merous to list. Just to mention a few. however. Regent Sterling is chairman of the East Texas Division of Sustain- ing Memberships: member of the Boy Scouts of America and its Board of Directors. Deacon of Truevine Baptist Church in Tyler; member of the Ex- ecutive Board of the YMCA: member of the Tyler Congress of Parents and Teachers; and Board member of the United Political Organization of Tex-